This article appeared in Election Weekly and is reposted here with permission.

For the majority of her adult life, Angel Hale was denied a right many Americans take for granted.

In 1986, Hale lost her sight and since then has been unable to cast a ballot without assistance.

All of that changed this May however, when Hale and thousands of other Oregonians with a wide range of disabilities were able to cast their ballots autonomously for the first time thanks to the implementation of Oregon’s unique Alternative Format Ballot (AFB).

“It was liberating,” Hale said by phone from her home in Oregon, the same place where she cast her independent ballot as part of the state’s vote-by-mail system.

Hale, along with other voters with visual and/or manual dexterity impairments in the state now have the ability to cast ballots at home using a computer program that requires Web access and a printer to cast and verify ballots.

The program works in conjunction with alternative devices which assist
disabled voters to understand and fill out ballots. Because of this
feature the AFB can work with devices like screen readers, sip-puff
devices, screen enlargers, Braille displays, switches, joysticks and
other assistive technologies.

The user receives the AFB as an electronic document either through
e-mail or a CD. Once completed, the voter prints out the AFB and sends
it through the mail using the envelopes provided. Like the rest of the
state’s absentee ballots, it is placed in a secrecy envelope which is
then placed inside the signature envelope, both of which provide
security and identification of the voter to officials.

“AFBs are essentially a ballot in a different form which replaces
paper. The ballot is processed in the same way as everyone else once
sent by mail," said Gene Newton of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA)
Program office in Oregon.

Newton likened the process to voting with a pen or pencil.

For Hale, voting with the new system has been anything but typical.

“The process has been incredible,” Hale said. “Besides working on the
pilot for the AFB this is my first time voting independently in my
life.”

People with disabilities in Oregon account for 21 percent of the
voting-age population, according to Census data from 2000. Nearly half
— 48.5 percent — participated in the 2000 presidential election.

Oregon’s first statewide use of AFBs in the primaries of 2008 had few
reported problems although Newton did point out that one complaint in
during the May 2008 primary was due to a technical difficulty.

An individual did not have ActiveX, a set of technologies by Microsoft
that enables interactive content for the Web, installed on their
computer thus preventing them from running the AFB program properly.

Hale said her only minor grievance was a small glitch in the software
in terms of a screen cursor bouncing when changing pages, but otherwise
commented the system was “fabulous” and “extremely functional”.

Overall, 70 AFB’s were requested and 37 of them were returned in the May primary.

In order to prepare the public to use AFBs, a number of organizations
and county officials have been publicizing educational programs and
voting instructions.

Recently, the Oregon Disability Mega-Conference held an informational
session on accessible voting which aimed to highlight the process of
voting using a computer and other information about tools and equipment
available to voters.

The Oregon Advocacy Center Web site provides links to contact county
offices to request an AFB or more information and allows Oregonians to
call for a training session in regards to voting by an Oregon Advocacy
Center attorney.

For those without access to a home or public computer, each county is
required to have a minimum of two Accessible Computer Stations (ACS).

ACS machines provide individuals the option of having a polling place
brought to them or to be set up in a fully accessible public location.

For Hale, voting at home – just as almost every Oregonian does – provides the best alternative.

“This has been the best solution for people like me to at vote on my
own in my own home, Hale said. “The AFB is an absolutely incredible
piece of software.”